CHAMPIONS: THE LEGACY THAT SHAPED SMALL BUSINESS FOR A NATION, celebrates the history of Australia’s leading small business award program: The Australian Small Business Champion Awards. Attended by Prime Ministers, premiers and stars alike, the program was established in 1999 by Mr. Steve Loe and designed to recognise and reward small businesses that form the backbone of the Australian economy.
Steve Loe’s vision was simple: “create a program that recognised and rewarded the countless Australian small businesses that serve their communities.” After working in his parent’s corner store and Greek nightclub during his childhood and teenage years, Steve noticed how hurried customers were to criticise the smallest of details, but never pressing to give thanks for simply showing up – day in, and day out. From that original desire to see his parents recognised; an idea was born. The Champion Awards, as it is fondly now known, is Australia’s greatest small business Awards program.
This extravagant pictorial style coffee table book has been designed to be picked up at any page and enjoyed. Anecdotal interviews are narrated by the author, as we vividly explore their journeys on their path to ultimate business triumph – being named Champion. We explore the highs and lows of owning a small business, the hard hurdles many have overcome, and what financial, communal and economic impacts the awards have had on Australian small businesses. For so many, winning a Champion can be life changing. Described as the “Oscar of Small Business,” and filled with feasts of lavish entertainment, fine dining, and special guests’ presenters, CHAMPIONS is an opulent publication that promises to impress, inspire, and celebrate a legacy that has shaped the Australian small business landscape for decades to come.
By Matthew Manahan
Imprint: PUBLISH CENTRAL
Release Date: June 1, 2025
Format: HARDBACK
Dimensions: 280 x 216 mm
Pages: 424
CHAMPIONS: THE LEGACY THAT SHAPED SMALL BUSINESS FOR A NATION, celebrates the history of Australia’s leading small business award program: The Australian Small Business Champion Awards. Attended by Prime Ministers, premiers and stars alike, the program was established in 1999 by Mr. Steve Loe and designed to recognise and reward small businesses that form the backbone of the Australian economy.
Steve Loe’s vision was simple: “create a program that recognised and rewarded the countless Australian small businesses that serve their communities.” After working in his parent’s corner store and Greek nightclub during his childhood and teenage years, Steve noticed how hurried customers were to criticise the smallest of details, but never pressing to give thanks for simply showing up – day in, and day out. From that original desire to see his parents recognised; an idea was born. The Champion Awards, as it is fondly now known, is Australia’s greatest small business Awards program.
This extravagant pictorial style coffee table book has been designed to be picked up at any page and enjoyed. Anecdotal interviews are narrated by the author, as we vividly explore their journeys on their path to ultimate business triumph – being named Champion. We explore the highs and lows of owning a small business, the hard hurdles many have overcome, and what financial, communal and economic impacts the awards have had on Australian small businesses. For so many, winning a Champion can be life changing. Described as the “Oscar of Small Business,” and filled with feasts of lavish entertainment, fine dining, and special guests’ presenters, CHAMPIONS is an opulent publication that promises to impress, inspire, and celebrate a legacy that has shaped the Australian small business landscape for decades to come.
By Matthew Manahan
Imprint: PUBLISH CENTRAL
Release Date: June 1, 2025
Format: HARDBACK
Dimensions: 280 x 216 mm
Pages: 424
